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1892: The Matthews Building, built in 1892, was marked for demolition in 1977 before the Grand Avenue retail center was planned around the structure and saved it. The building was sold to the F.W. Woolworth chain in 1925. Journal Sentinel files

1930: Soldiers, sailors, veterans and rookies marched or rode down Wisconsin Avenue between thousands of spectators massed on both curbs during the annual Memorial Day parade. The picture was taken from the Matthews building, looking west up the avenue from Third Street. Journal Sentinel files

1934: This photo looks north from the intersection of Water Street (now North Plankinton Avenue) and Grand Avenue (now West Wisconsin Avenue). Traffic includes horse-drawn buggies and streetcars. A man (right) walks down three steps to get to street level. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

1980: Dirt flies at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Grand Avenue shopping mall between Gimbels and the Boston Store. Manning shovels at the southeast corner of North Third Street. and West Wisconsin Avenue are Francis E. Ferguson (from left), Mayor Henry Maier and Mathias J. DeVito. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

1981: Support beams for an overhead roadway are erected across North Second Street between West Michigan Street and West Wisconsin Avenue. The roadway connected two city parking garages being constructed as part of the Grand Avenue retail center. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

1981: Workers replace glass in the skylight of the Plankinton Arcade for the new Grand Avenue mall. The work was being done for the city by the Milwaukee Redevelopment Corp., developers of the mall. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

1982: The F.W. Woolworth Co. building sports a reproduction of the store's traditional sign, new metal window frames and refurbished ornaments. The building, along with Boston Store, anchors the mall's west end. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

1982: Cows and calves visit the city as the Grand Avenue mall celebrated Dairy Day. The display was one of the special events held at the mall in recognition of Wisconsin Dairy Month. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

1982: The Grand Avenue combines the charm of old Milwaukee with modern goods. The four-block-long retail center has given downtown Milwaukee a much-needed boost. Throngs of shoppers and sightseers clogged the $70 million shopping center on opening days, and traffic has remained steady. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

1983: People pass the North Third Street and West Wisconsin Avenue entrance of the Grand Avenue. Tax incremental financing was important in the creation of the retail center in Milwaukee. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

1985: The $300,000 job of replacing the brick crosswalks on Wisconsin Avenue makes traffic difficult. The bricks were installed in 1982 when the Grand Avenue mall opened, but officials said the crosswalks were breaking up, creating hazards for pedestrians. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

1990: The Motor Works Ltd., featuring a wide variety of gifts for people who like cars, was one of two new specialty stores for holiday shoppers to browse. Hologram Haven was the other. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

2012: Attila Barabas, a restoration mason and ironworker with Building Restoration Inc., secures a nameplate on the base of a 16-foot bronze John Plankinton statue in the Grand Avenue mall. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

2013: Union members and fast-food and retail workers in Milwaukee stage a protest on Wisconsin Avenue in front of the Grand Avenue mall, joining a national string of protests across the country. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

2015: At Escape Chambers, a new business at the Grand Avenue mall, participants are locked in a room and have 60 minutes to solve a series of puzzles and clues to escape. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files

The transformation of Milwaukee's Grand Avenue mall from a sad shell to a cutting edge development takes a huge step forward Thursday with the announcement of plans for a food hall featuring more than 20 local vendors and an anchor tenant bringing 170 employees downtown.

Known as 3rd Street Market Hall, the food hall will showcase food preparation with open kitchens, while also providing a place to hang out while people-watching, working on a laptop, or playing bocce and other games.

3rd Street Market Hall will use 35,000 square feet of street-level space connected to what is now the mall’s main entrance, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave. It will open in fall 2019.

Many of the mall's first- and second-floor stores have closed, with others relocating by the end of February.

The mall’s central escalators also will be removed to make way for 3rd Street Market Hall, with the building to largely shut down in early 2019 for extensive renovations.

The office tenant is Graef USA, an engineering, planning and design firm that will move to the Grand Avenue’s third floor.

That space is now the mall food court. Most of those restaurants have shut down, with the remaining ones closing soon.

Graef is leasing nearly 35,000 square feet. The firm plans to move by January 2020 from Honey Creek Corporate Center. That office park is west of South 84th Street and north of I-94 on Milwaukee’s far west side.

Together, the food hall and Graef move are providing a multi-million dollar investment to the Grand Avenue — which will be renamed The Avenue.

The food hall, the mall's parking structure and a planned tenant lounge helped attract Graef to The Avenue, according to a company statement. Other amenities cited by Graef include plans for second-floor co-working spaces for other businesses.

Finally, Graef wanted to be near other new and ongoing developments that are revitalizing downtown's west side, said John Kissinger, president and chief executive officer.

"As engineers, planners and designers, we see not only what is, but have a vision for what will be, and our vision has taken us back downtown to The Avenue,” Kissinger said.

Graef USA's new offices at The Grand will be on the third floor, and will overlook the new Third Street Market Hall.(Photo11: TKWA Urban Lab)

Food hall, anchor tenant should lure others

Both Graef’s commitment and the food hall plans will help draw other office tenants to The Avenue, according to its developers, Tony Janowiec and Joshua Krsnak.

The Avenue has 85,000 to 110,00 square feet of additional future office space on the mall’s second and third floors between the former Boston Store and North Second Street, they said.

Around 60,000 square feet of second-floor office space has been tentatively committed, Krsnak said. The identity of that tenant isn't yet being disclosed.

The food hall is “a huge amenity” for office tenants, said Krsnak, president of Minneapolis-based Hempel Cos.

While those steps were unfolding, work is finishing up on converting the second floor of the mall’s historic Plankinton Arcade, between North Second Street and North Plankinton Avenue, into 52 high-end apartments.

Those first units, ranging from studios to two-bedrooms, will be ready by January, said Janowiec, president of Interstate Development Partners LLC. The entire apartment project, known as Plankinton Clover, should be finished by March, he said, with monthly rents starting at just under $1,000.

3rd Street Market Hall (the name is an homage to when North Third Street ran through what is now mall space) will have its vendors arranged around a centrally located bar. It will be the food hall’s focal point, said Shaikh, who will operate the bar.

There also will be a separate beer hall in the former Applebee’s restaurant next to The Avenue’s main entrance.

If it works, 3rd Street Market Hall should be active throughout the day — not just over the lunch hour.

Shaikh cited Brooklyn’s DeKalb Market Hall. It's among several food halls he and his partners visited throughout the country while creating their plans for 3rd Street Market Hall.

• Char’d, a new Korean restaurant, in the Historic Third Ward at 222 E. Erie St., that will be opening its second location.

• Waterford Wine & Spirits, which operates stores at 1327 E. Brady St. and in Delafield, and will be opening its third location.

• Milk Can, a startup that will sell “local classics,” including burgers, cheese curds and frozen custard, created from scratch.

• Donut Monster, which began operating this summer at festival stands.

3rd Street Market Hall is a “perfect place for this new collection of food companies,” said Eric Resch, Stone Creek’s owner.

Stone Creek wants “to be part of the team the makes this a downtown destination,” he said.

Milk Can partner Kurt Fogle called the food hall “a great location for us to share our love of Wisconsin cuisine with the city of Milwaukee, downtown employees and visitors to all of the wonderful sports, entertainment and convention venues that are already in or coming to the neighborhood.”

Krsnak and Janowiec have since bought other nearby properties, including the Matthews Building, which attaches to The Grand at West Wisconsin Avenue and North Old World Third Street, and attached retail and office space south of West Wisconsin Avenue between North Plankinton Avenue and the Milwaukee River.

Those acquisitions and renovations done so far total $65 million in spending by the developers, Krsnak said. The Avenue’s office and food hall renovations will cost another $30 million.

Those projects, including The Avenue, have helped boost the long-lagging area of downtown’s west side — especially West Wisconsin Avenue.

“West Wisconsin Avenue is in the midst of a renaissance with activity and investment," said city Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux. "Developers are delivering on a vision that brings people together and adds economic activity.”